We are gearing up to start making our Racer wool jerseys here in Portland again.
They jerseys we have made in China come from a reputable business that pay their professional employees twice the normal wage for working on fine wool garments. Both styles are made from 100% Australian merino wool. You can read more about this on our web site. Take your pick.
May 7th on another forum, midnight howler wrote about his Portland Cyclewear jersey, "i love my jersey, thank you ube's".

I hope you can understand me wanting to protect my source from a business stand point, although yes rather rudely on this one instance.

Well, this story has certainly been something to ponder. I took advantage of the link that Chad of Portland Cyclewear provided to take a look at his "take" on the controversy.

Chad is dismayed because a potential customer wants to know exactly where in China his jerseys are made. Why this would be a surprize to any reasonably aware person is a mystery to me. There is a growing awareness of and concern over abusive labor practices around the world. Just recently OPB ran the documentary, 'China Blue' by director Micha Peled, about just this sort of thing:

Further on in his reply, Chad assures readers that his employees make "...twice the wage that most garment workers do for their expertise.", whatever that means relative to no standard offered by which to guage it to.

And of course, there's the requisite model workplace photos that's supposed to help prove how fair working conditions are for the people that produce his jerseseys. Actually, the photos are kind of dark. Maybe it's just my monitor. Also, it's interesting that there seems to be very few people at work stations in the photos provided. All in all, not very reassuring to a potential customer that wants to take extra responsibility in insuring his business does not support unfair labor practices.

It's up to any business owner to determine what kind of personal exchange between business and customer is best for both. Some customers seem to enjoy the rude smartmouth approach that appears to characterize Chad's reply. Certain waitresses make a lot of money being rude to their customers. Beats me. Maybe that's Portland Cyclewear's game.

I also read the original post and I can see how there could have been a misunderstanding. Chad could have been coming from a more relaxed standpoint and by the time he realized he was dealing with somebody who expected a more "professional" interaction the damage had been done. I guess what I'm saying is I think this is basically one big miscommunication and that's it.